Former Energex chair Ross Dunning cleared of sex charges; new role as chair of Townsville Port Authority

Former Energex chair Ross Dunning has won a boardroom reprieve after being cleared of child sex charges, wrote Steven Wardill in The Courier Mail (28/9/2007, p.10).

Expert background: Transport Minister John Mickel announced Dunning had agreed to take on a new role as chair of the Townsville Port Authority. “Mr Dunning has a strong history in ports as a previous chairman of the Port of Brisbane Corporation and the Central Queensland Port Authority,” he said. “He brings to the port the engineering and management background which will assist the board to address the challenges facing the port as it meets the future needs of its users.”

Cleared of charges: In 2004, Dunning resigned as chair of troubled power supplier Energex to face eight charges relating to offences he was accused of committing in 1968 against a 16-year-old boy and his brother in Gladstone. He was acquitted of five of the charges in February. The Department of Public Prosecutions announced in June that it was not proceeding with the three remaining charges.